The Advocate

(SWAI, pronounced "sway.") We are a group of neighbors, organizers, and allies committed to justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Our mission is to educate and engage White people into becoming active and effective antiracists. Our focus is hyper-local to the City of San Leandro because we believe change begins in our backyard.  New topics every month! September 9/8 & 9/22: Community History, To the Suburban Wall & Back Again October 10/6 & 10/20: Neighbors for Racial Justice, Confronting Racism Online & In Real Life November 11/3 & 11/17: Reimagining Public Safety & our Mental Health Response Meetings @ 7:30 - 9:00 P:M via Zoom. Contact: SWAI@googlegroups.com

I've come to realize that I end up repeating myself a lot when engaging with other people in my work. The hard part is that the topic that most frequently rears itself repeatedly is about my background. How dare I. Who am I. What do I know. What gives me the right. At this point, I'm just tired and bored of having to bare my soul every single time someone with a chip on their shoulder wants to try throwing it at my face. Like with most things in my life, I've chosen to write it down somewhere that people can read at their leisure and convenience. And, also, where I can finally get a little leisure and convenience. So, if you have questions about me then here are some answers. I do mean some. Not all. There will always be things I refuse to share except with my loved ones. Now... prepare for a Very Long Post! *** As a legal advocate, community organizer, civil servant, and experienced public administrator, I believe I possess a unique combination of education, experience, an...

It starts and ends with the emails. So many emails. From 6:00 AM to well past midnight. Responding to aspiring politicos, friendly peers, allied organizations, and others needing subject matter expertise in legal assistance, fundraising, networking, or updates on current events, among a milieu of miscellany. After that, it's dashing across town for a local event -- coffee with the cops, a community clean-up, canvassing for a ballot initiative or new candidate, maybe attending a rally and protest. Then it's dashing back home to hop on for a few consecutive hours of Zoom calls with fellow activists to research, review, and write up public comments or civic education and outreach materials. By this time, we're well into the working lunch hour with a less formal meeting between new stakeholders wanting to jump in headfirst or tentative residents dipping their toes in to learn more. Sometimes it's a very formal meeting with new officials hoping to build bridges or test bound...

(Image credit: APTP) This past Tuesday, spectators to the ongoing trial of former SLPD Officer Jason Fletcher were met with harassment, aggression, and corruption of technology to prevent the people from effectively exercising their First Amendment Rights. As you may be aware, many social media platforms and streaming sites include automatic algorithms to delete copyrighted content. Well, law enforcement across California are using that to disrupt legal filming of their activities by playing pop music that will prevent the public from posting those videos to social media and/or streaming sites like YouTube. It also just makes it harder for people to hear what’s happening when cops are attempting to intimidate residents and civilians. In this case, an Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputy explicitly admitted to this on video and the story has been picked up by multiple media outlets. You can read more about it at Gizmodo and The Verge . Here’s a particularly illuminating quote: “You can reco...

On June 3, San Leandro for Accountability, Transparency, and Equity (SLATE) is having an informational session as well as volunteer orientation meeting for community police oversight in San Leandro. As you may be aware, our city manager and elected officials are looking at implementing oversight models to incorporate best practices for policing in our city. They have been speaking with community organizers as well as local leaders to solicit our input and expertise. They have also been consulting with the OIR Group, SEED Collaborative, and the National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE). While this initiative is not new, recent events locally, regionally, and nationally, have shown the need for meaningful police reform. Indeed, over 250 residents, activists, organizers, leaders, and representatives from community groups in San Leandro have signed an open petition supporting it. WHO: This informational session for anyone who is interested in community police ...

Some of you may have noticed today in San Leandro that along Parrot Street, between E. 14th and Hays, are some giant letters spelling out an important message: Black Lives Matter. This effort was undertaken by local residents, activists, and organizers in order to highlight the need for racial justice in our community. Indeed, many of our elected officials were spotted participating, glad-handing, taking photos, and canvassing. Whether for themselves or because they truly believe that Black lives matter is unclear. Because, see, in the days and weeks prior to this, they have seemed more interested in delaying, obfuscating, and actively preventing justice from being carried out in the murder of Steven Taylor. (And the assault of Emerald Black, and previous acts of murder and brutality against BIPOC residents by SLPD, and regular abuse against our homeless population, and local animals mistreated by our officers rather saved by trained animal control agents, but I digress). True, the cit...

(Credit: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection ) I'm one of many community activists here in San Leandro and I just put together this post to help address a lot of questions, confusion, and even frustration or anger people may have regarding the recent push to defund the SLPD, or the police in general. To start with, I hear you. In my city, a slim majority of our elected officials defied the calls from activists to delay the budget vote and review where budget allocations originally marked for SLPD would go. Instead, the mayor and a few city council members felt it was more important to just pass a budget than to do the harder work of revising the budget to help prevent further police violence. If you listen to the meeting (link here ) you can hear for yourself that this decision was solely made by 4 city council (including the mayor) members against the wishes of community members that participated in public comment, wrote letters, and have been advocating for justice against pol...